Avatar of Six Paths
by Dyani91
Summary: After the Great Fire Nation War Toph lives slowly dying of a potent poison. Accepting the inevitable she lives out her life peacefully awaiting the end of her days. However unbeknownst to her but knownst to us. The spirits have a plan for her that will rock the Naru-verse as we know it. Enter the Avatar of Six Paths
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue…**

In a little village on the outskirts of the Earth Nation, Toph had finally achieved her dreams. She was a teacher and one of the most sought out people when it came to advice. She never did marry, only Katara knew the reason why though. Back during the great Nation war, Toph had been poisoned it was slow acting but it was killing her. It had no antidote. Even Katara couldn't remove it with her blood bending. Toph had made peace with it though and was living out her remaining years happily. She knew her time was ending soon, very soon. What she didn't know was that the spirits had plans for her. That night when she was asleep she was brought to the realm of spirits in order to discuss with her, her options.

Toph gazed around curiously in amazement, she could see! For the first time in her life she didn't have to see through the vibrations of the earth. She was in a cave lit by millions of dancing lights before her was an enormous badger mole with a scar over its left eye.

"Hello." She ventured boldly.

"Hello little earth child. It has been many suns since we have last seen you." It rumbled out. She smiled a small half smile.

"Not to be rude but why am I here?" she asked making the great spirit laugh.

"You haven't changed a whit that's refreshing, now you are dying. You will be dead before the nights out." It said with an air of serenity.

"I'm sure you didn't call me here just for that." She interjected crossing her arms into her now infamous stance.

"Your right earth child, I didn't." it chuckled at her. "I brought you here to offer you another chance at life in a different world. If you accept I will resurrect you there at the age of your choice with your current abilities. You will be given the basic knowledge of the world upon arrival."

"What's the catch?" she asked bluntly.

"You would be the spirits avatar in this new world. The nine controlling spirits have been sealed away. Your job would be to infiltrate a group called Akatsuki and keep them from bringing about the spirit of destruction. The nine spirits would be able to communicate with you through miniature animals that will be your summons, their counter parts from this world so to speak."

"I see and if I refuse?" She asked.

"Then your soul shall never be able to be reborn. Such is the fate of those that refuse a charge of the spirit king." The Spirit badger mole answered readily. Toph frowned at that.

"Fine, I'll do it but I want to be sent there at my current age and blind again. I don't think I like being able to see like this it's to awkward." She said gazing around.

"Very well earth child, let me pass on the knowledge you need before I send you off." It rumbled placing a long claw to her forehead. Images upon images of the worlds history flashed through her mind. From the worlds creation at the claws of Juubi to the most recent sealing of the Kyuubi. Images of the lives of the Akatsuki flew before her, engraining her intimately with their personalities, reasonings and lives. Some of what she saw disgusted and saddened her. She was given knowledge of the future should she not succeed. It made her throw up repeatedly as she saw millions of lives lost to one insane man. This was on par with or possibly worse than what Ozai and Azula had planned. She sat there on her hands and knees dry heaving for a few more minutes. Finally she regained her composure.

"That's horrible." She croaked out her voice strained by her damaged throat. A soft touch and she felt her throat repair itself.

"It is, now you see why we need your help. The war that's coming shall throw everything out of balance and Koh the faceless one shall regain his body again. We cannot afford this. His wanton destruction would bring about the end of the universe. Now before I send you let me give you your summon scroll and a friend. This is Kiryuu, he will be your companion. He will let you get in touch with us in your time of need." The badgermole said as a large Dragon-hawk flew into the cave to settle on her shoulder.

"Hello Kiryuu." She said reaching up to ruffle his feathers. He crooned at her leaning into the scratching. She picked up the scroll and felt a foreign energy course through her momentarily. Three tattoos formed on her body. The symbol for earth on her head and the backs of both hands.

"That was chakra, you need it to summon them. You will have the equivalent of a Kage for chakra. However you will need to train with it in order to use it, bending will only get you so far, if someone inquires about your bending it is a kekkai-genkai. If you add chakra while you bend you will be able to use crystal release.

You will be set down outside of the Land of Earth right by the entrance to the borderlands. You will need to formulate a story for yourself. Good luck Toph Bai-fong, I fear you will need it." The badgermole said.

"Thank you." She said sincerely. Another tap and her image faded from the spirit realm as she crossed into the elemental nations.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Toph's blind eyes fluttered open as she yawned and stretched. The feel of soft grass beneath her let her know she was outside. She was still twenty three and stood 5' 5" tall and still wore her work tunic and leggings. On the ground were several scrolls. The spirits had been kind enough to send her along with provisions like money and food. Clothing she would get herself. She felt inside to feel the buzz of what she now knew to be chakra. Sighing she got to her feet and stood. Focusing her spiritual energy only she was happy when behind her blind eyes the landscape flared into existence.

She fixed her hair up behind her Fire Nation headband. She ran her fingers over the Braille on the scrolls and tucked the ones she didn't need away. Reaching inside she grabbed a tiny strand of chakra and used it to open her food scroll. A little bit more and she had some jerky and an apple for breakfast. Putting the scroll away she sat down to think for a bit.

"Well I might as well practice with the chakra." She mused out a moment later. Carefully she sifted through the memories for the ones on chakra control. A few minutes later she found herself astounded as yet again she blasted backwards from the tree.

"Damn this is way harder than learning bending. Fuck." She said as she lay sprawled out on the ground panting. Kiryuu trilled his amusement and she stuck her tongue out at the bird.

"Oh shut it you! Maybe it would work better if I used rocks instead." She said sitting up groaning.

"Now I know how twinkle toes felt. Urgh!" she said standing up. She started walking looking for a place to stay and practice. Several hours later she stood happily in front of a deserted cave. Kiryuu settled on her shoulder happily and trilled his satisfaction as well.

"This will do nicely, I think." She said happily. Her stomach grumbled letting her know that she forgot lunch and she frowned.

"Oh quiet you." She hissed unsealing some more food parceling some jerky for Kiryuu. A small meal later and she set about practicing again. She found she was correct when she found it easier to stick to stone than wood. She practiced until well into the night when she finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Several weeks passed as she practiced daily intent on gaining almost if not absolutely perfect control. She knew the hand signs and used them to summon two Kage Bunshin to train with. Her improvement was steady as she worked on her chakra, she was able to use crystal release easily. Everything was great or so she thought. Loud clashing echoed outside her cave she frowned glaring out at those who would disturb her. She extended her senses allowing her to see exactly what was going on.

"FUCK!" She cursed rushing outside as she finally made out what was going on. The Akatsuki were after Han- the Jinchuurikki. She stomped her fool on the ground drawing metal out of the earth for armor before entering the fray. Orochimaru and Sasori had to duck as a boulder almost the size of the base careened towards them. They blinked halting in their attacks momentarily as they gazed to where the boulder had come from.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING FIGHTING OUTSIDE OF MY HOME!" Toph seethed angrily.

Sasori and Orochimaru were stunned as an armored lady stepped from the downed trees. Han stood passively eyeing the newcomer with interest as he listened to his lifelong partner.

'**She is not an enemy Han. The spirits have sent her to heal this world.'**

'Fine, I just hope I get out of here alive.' He thought back to the horse bijuu.

"This is of no concern to you woman! I suggest you mind your own business." Sasori said shortly.

"How about NO! You have some nerve telling me what to do asshole. I suggest you take freak show and leave. You are disturbing both myself and the man here with your warmongering attitude. Get lost!" she ground out.

Sasori gazed sharply at her while Orochimaru just chuckled.

"Sorry no can do. You see he is our target, now if you leave we will leave you alone. Get in our way and we kill you. Get it sweet heart." Orochimaru said languidly trying to be charming.

"Sweet Heart!" Toph growled her voice dropping to a dangerous level. Orochimaru's eyes widened as he realized his mistake.

"Kuso!" he cursed softly.

"You DARE call me by that filthy nickname!" She took a menacing step forward. "Thank you for sealing the first nail into your coffin yourself Freakshow!" she said bringing her hands forward. Pressure increased around her and Orochimaru gulped before flying through some hand signs. Sasori warily backed off and Han retreated behind her. Orochimaru sunk into the ground trying to get away. Toph seeing this stomped one hard sending her chakra into the ground. A pike of blue-green crystal shot out of the ground like lightning with Orochimaru impaled upon it. His eyes were wide as he coughed up blood. He did not see that coming.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH, I'LL KILL YOU! He growled down at her smirking form. He moved through some more hand signs only to have one of his hands crushed by a flying piece of crystal. He looked down at her to see several large crystals floating in mid air. A jump kick sent another flying at his face. With a squelch he used his good hand to push himself up off the crystal and dodged with barely a moment to spare. Several crystals struck him on his way down knocking him painfully into a closely cropped group of trees injuring him further. Meanwhile Sasori had found that puppetry was useless against her as she crushed them before they got close. She seemed to be able to see all 360 degrees around her. It puzzled him greatly, not even the Hyuuga clan was able to do that. She didn't look like a Hyuuga except her eyes.

Her eyes! She was blind! It finally clicked, they had a disadvantage from the start. The girl must be able to sense everything around her since she was blind. Probably an affinity with the earth of some sort judging by her ability to make and use crystal.

"Orochimaru, we are retreating. I have important information for Leader-Sama. We will come back for the Gobi another time." He said as he watched his downed partner struggle to his feet.

"Very well, but first let me say something." He acquiesced. He turned to Toph his eyes narrow.

"I will be back and I will kill you girl. Count on that!" Orochimaru hissed at her.

"Yeah Yeah Freakshow now get going and leave already!" she said boredly.

They disappeared quickly as she watched, slowly Han stepped back out into the now bloody crystal infused space.

"The Han thanks you for your assistance." He said softly.

"You're welcome Han, Kokuo. Please come with me we have much to discuss. I shall bring you no harm." She stated directly spinning on her heel and marching towards her cave. The huge figure of Han moved silently behind her. They arrived at the cave where Kiryuu flew down to meet them. He flew around her head chirping at her and inspecting her. A stomp of her foot and the armor she wore disappeared back into the earth. She let her hair down and sighed as Kiryuu chirped his satisfaction before going to inspect Han. Han bore the birds inspection with veiled amusement as Kiryuu flew around him. Finally satisfied Kiryuu flew up to a rock shelf and landed content that there was no danger.

"So you are the spirit warrior according to Kokuo." Han said carefully as he watched the petite woman brush out her shoulder length hair.

"Yes, I am trying to keep the Akatsuki from bringing about Armageddon. If they form the Ten tails they will release its soul and it will destroy the worlds." She said with a labored sigh.

"You say worlds as if there are more than one?" Han questioned.

"Yes, there are. Summon realm, Spirit Realm, this world and my own world. I don't want to see them destroyed." She said thoughtlessly.

"You are not from this world then?"

"Shit I let that slip didn't I, well truthfully I was brought here from my own world where I died of poison finally. I cannot afford for that information to get out you understand." She said softly.

"The Han understands. I do not normally speak to the humans anyway so the Han's lips are sealed." Han said making her smile softly.

"Thank you Han." She said. "Why do you not normally talk to people, you seem very nice." She questioned. The Han sighed removing his Kasa.

"People view the Han as a monster made Human, because Kokuo is sealed in the Han." The giant of a man sighed.

"I see, people where I came from viewed me as odd as well because I am blind and I fight." She sympathized.

"The Han noticed you fight very well. Your chakra control needs work though." He noted with an amused lilt to his deep voice.

"Could you help me? I'm new to using chakra so it doesn't make much sense to me." she asked hopefully.

"The Han shall, that way he can repay your kindness." Han said holding a giant hand out. She smirked and shook it her hand engulfed by his own. Thus started her crash course in chakra usage, over the next two weeks she was trained hard by Han. While he was a gentle person at heart he was a harsh task master in training. Every night she would end up bruised and bloody where he would heal her and beat her into the ground again the next morning. He learned of her charge after she consulted with the spirits about him. They knew he would be taken next and she knew he would never back down from protecting his only new friend. She summoned the Dragon-Moose Lion to speak with Kokuo a few times and conversed with him learning his role in maintaining the balance.

Finally the time came. They were outside training when the alarmed cry from Kiryuu split the air and not a second to soon. They dodged out of the way as several different attacks washed through where they had just been.

"Who's there come out here!" she called into the woods. A scythe came whistling through the air towards her and she stomped a foot raising an earth wall in front of her. She felt the impact of the weapon in the wall the longest tip a hairs breadth away from her nose the scent of blood fresh on it.

It ripped out of the wall as it was yanked back and she allowed the wall to sink back into the ground with a movement.

"So it is true you can see somehow, even though you are blind." A voice stated as a man walked out into their training area.

"Yeah what's it to you jack ass." She said idly cleaning her ear out with a finger.

"Hey Kakuzu can I sacrifice this bitch?" another voice joined the fray. Toph narrowed her eyes as she felt the newcomer this had to be Hidan which mean's these were the Immortal duo. Her mind flew through battle strategies as she shifted to a defensive stance subtley.

"No Hidan, you know what Leader-sama said. We are to capture her and the Gobi alive." Kakuzu said irritatedly.

"Fuck him, the dumb blind bitch isn't useful at all why can't I just kill her ass." Hidan grumped.

"Fuck you too, twinkle toes. Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't beat your ass into the ground." She retorted hotly, Hidan having struck a sore point.

"Yeah, Bitch well bring it on. I've been dying to sacrifice someone all day." He said grinning cockily. She smiled and twitched her foot to the side sending a pillar of rock into his balls. She outright laughed as he gave a pained cry slumping to the ground. Han and Kakuzu gave a sympathetic wince.

"Really twinkle toes you should learn how to dodge. It seems to me that your all talk." She laughed.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH I AM GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU!" Hidan shouted as he wobbled back to his feet using his scythe for support.

"Hidan get ahold of yourself we need to capture them…"

"FUCK YOU KAKUZU, NO ONE DOES THIS TO ME NO ONE!" Hidan screamed as Toph focused her energy trying out something that she thought might work. Hidan took a step forward and found himself frozen. Looking at his back leg he found it encased in quickly growing crystal. Looking back a Toph he noticed her look of concentration. Quickly he cut off his own leg severing it at the hip.

"KAKUZU MOVE!" he shouted from his spot on the ground. Kakuzu leapt out of the way as more crystal bubbled up from the ground trying to ensnare him as well.

"Clever girl, but not good enough." He stated from his perch in the trees.

Toph just clicked her tongue and eyed Hidan who was trying futilely to get his now trapped scythe. He finally gave up just as Han rushed to engage Kakuzu and turned to the smirking girl. His cut leg had fallen uselessly to the ground since she focused on trapping his scythe. He eyed Kakuzu who sent over a tendril of threads to reattach his leg. He stitched it back on quickly and stood up noting her slight look of surprise. Pressing his advantage he rushed her only to be forced into dodging a barrage of rocks.

"Is this all you can fucking do? Throw rocks at me?" he laughed dodging closer to her. He watched her stamp her foot in frustration only to be surprised when metals rose from the earth to form armor around her.

"Tch!" he tsked dodging a metallic punch from her. he tried to impale her with his pike only for it to glance off the armor. He jumped back and grabbed his now free scythe from the ground. She stomped on the ground again and a large disk of solid earth rose in front of her. With a punch she sent it barreling at him at speeds that would put an avalanche to shame.

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!" he screamed dodging to the side. Another stamp and a few hand motions made a curved ramp raise redirecting the thing at him. Hidan jumped into the air quickly as he watched a veritable arena rise from the ground surrounding them.

"WHAT IN JASHIN'S BLOODY NAME ARE YOU BITCH!" he yelled down at her. This served to be a bad idea as she looked up at him with a shit eating grin. Another stamp and she sent shards of sharp crystal flying at him like kunai. In the air he was a sitting duck. Quickly he swung his scythe into a nearby tree and used it to pull himself out of the way.

"I'm just your normal average every day girl who is kicking your ass into the ground." Toph said amusedly. She hadn't had a fight this good since the Fire Nation war.

"You are anything but fucking normal Bitch!" Hidan gritted out.

"Thank you for the compliment." Toph said sincerely. Hidan jumped to the ground only to be shot up into the air once more as the ground heaved beneath his feet at a twitch of her arms.

"FUCKING HELL!" he shouted as she pelted him with rocks once more.

He fell to the ground battered, bruised and pissed.

"Where the fuck is Kakuzu." He grumbled as he picked himself up. The bitch was smirking at him, taunting him.

"Having fun yet Twinkle Toes, I am." She said grinning. He scowled at her.

"How the hell can you see so well when your fucking blind, bitch?" he spat out, she just smiled and brought her arm up the ground following suit as she launched him in the air again. Toph raised her leg to stamp down for some rock when a new voice yelled.

"KATSU!"

BOOOOOOOM!

An explosion enveloped her flinging her against her arena wall knocking her out. A blonde haired man jumped from a clay bird and landed gracefully as Hidan crashed into the ground once again.

"FUCKING HELL DEIDARA! WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU CATCH ME JASHIN DAMN IT!" Hidan yelled at the blonde.

"Because I was having fun watching her beat you into the ground, un!" he retorted with a smile on his face. Hidan glared balefully at him as he pulled himself up right. Deidara walked over to the unconscious form of Toph and picked her up.

"Come on, un. Leader wants us back at the base already." He said stowing her unconscious form next to that of Han. Kakuzu hopped over the arena wall and smirked slightly at the hurt form of his partner. He held up several scrolls and spoke.

"I found these in the cave she was living out of. They belong to the woman and are blood locked. They can only be opened by her willingly given blood." He said stowing them away on his person.

"Fucking bitch! Wish I could have sacrificed her ass to Jashin-sama." Hidan grumbled glaring murder at her downed form.

"Only cause she was beating yours into the ground. Un." Deidara chimed in cheerfully.

"Fuck You Deidara-chan!" Hidan sniped back.

"QUIT CALLING ME THAT! I'M NOT A FUCKING GIRL!" Deidara yelled at Hidan as they flew. 

"Both of you shut up before I sew your mouths shut!" Kakuzu snapped his voice dangerously low. He turned to Deidara who shifted quietly.

"Deidara since you are the most proficient and familiar with Iwa's techniques, can you tell me what sort of Jutsu she was using." He asked seriously.

"I couldn't tell you, I have never seen anything like that un!" he said looking Kakuzu in the eye in order to convey his honesty.

"So what fucking good are you then?" Hidan scoffed as Deidara turned a dangerous glare on the Jashinist.

"The kind that saved your fucking ass!" He growled out losing his percuiliar verbal tick in his anger. Hidan just glared and huffed silently. Toph stirred slowly feeling wind rushing past her face. It felt almost like she was riding Appa again. Opening her eyes she suppressed as gasp as she felt how high they were flying. She heard voices arguing and assumed the Akatsuki were on the bird that was carrying them. Using her senses she felt through the moving clay that was holding her. She saw the three figures and the bloody unconscious form of Han. She felt some regret that she was unable to help her friend even if they knew it was inevitable. She let herself sink back into sleep to recover as much as she could while they flew.

It was a few hours before the trio and the two prisoners landed. Kakuzu bound Toph in threads and carried her inside and placed her in a metal cell leaving her there. They took Han and began the sealing into the Demonic Statue of the outer Path.

Toph groaned as cold seeped into her bones. She sat up a headache prevalent. Knocking on the floor she frowned as she listened to the reverberations. It was steel, much harder to bend than Iron but not totally impossible. She felt around the cage checking dimensions. She listened carefully and heard slight shouting echoing from an adjoining chamber. She decided to wait for them to show so she sat down leaning languidly against the bars. She meditated allowing herself to get in touch with the spirit realm. The world dissolved to grey around her as the tattoos started glowing with soft green light.

She gazed around the misty clearing she appeared in, in the clearing stood none other than the massive form of Han who awaited her. She hid a watery smile as she walked over to hug him. He accepted quietly.

"I'm sorry Han, I tried to keep them from you." She said her voice muffled in his chest. She felt him pat her head with his massive hand.

"It's ok Toph, I know and appreciate it. We knew it was inevitable though so thank you for trying your best. The Han is at peace now and no longer has to fight." Han said with a smile. She cracked a watery one of her own.

"You need to go back now, The Han believes you were planning on showing them why it was a bad idea to mess with you." He smirked at her she nodded.

"Kokuo said you can still use your summon to converse with him even if he is trapped." Han called after her fading form. She raised her hand in thanks and disappeared.

" ITCH WAKE THE FUCK UP JASHIN DAMN IT!" Hidan ranted at the meditating form of Toph. The others surrounded her cage and were eyeing her warily. The green glow faded from her as she returned to her body. She yawned and opened blind eyes.

"Fucking finally!" Hidan cursed at her.

"Just what a girl wants really to hear your dulcet tones when she first wakes. What the hell do ya'll want." She said cleaning out her ear where he had been yelling in it for the past several minutes. A few muffled chuckles met her ears along with Hidan's indignant spluttering. An orange haired man stepped forward and narrowed his eyes. Listening to her mental map she judged by his posture and the lack of visible heart beat that this was one of Pein's paths.

"Who are you girl and why did you chose to interfere with Akatsuki business?" He asked eyes narrowed.

"Why are you a dead body reanimated?" she shot back taking everyone aback for a moment.

"I am one of the paths of Pein, now answer my questions."

"I'm Toph, guardian of Spirits. You were after one of my charges so of course I have to do my job." She answered boredly.

"What do you mean?" he asked her slightly confused.

"I'm a legacy of the Sage, his avatar so to speak. I keep his children safe and stop assholes like you from reviving Koh the faceless one. My entire purpose is to keep the quantum checks and balances. You all revive Koh the ten tails you bring about the end of the worlds. It's my job to stop you through force or other means." She said simply.

"Well that does seem to pose a problem since we need the ten tails revived for our plans. Therefore you shall stay locked here for however long it takes." Pein said decisively. She simply smiled at him and waved bye. Listening as they turned and walked away.

Channeling her spiritual energy into her feet she stepped down with deliberate force channeling it through the metal and earth. The layout of the base was large but simple and she could see where Zetsu left a clone to watch her so she deliberately waved to him laughing quietly as he looked taken aback for a moment. She felt faint energy pings as her energy bounced off of three matching signatures in what she assumed to be Kakuzu's room. Since the odd stringy man was laying on the bed in there. Zetsu disappeared for a bit as she waited, the door opened and Konan walked in with a tray of food and some water. She placed it just outside the cage and looked at the blind girl laying there.

She couldn't shake the feeling that the girl could just get up and leave whenever she wanted. However Pein and the others just laughed at her when she spoke up, the secretive smile the girl wore didn't help her suspicions any either. There had to be a reason she openly defied them and Konan had a suspicion the boys would be kicking themselves for not listening to her later. As she moved away, she did not see the slight smile turn absolutely devilish behind her.

'So it seems like someone has caught on.' Toph mused as she focused on her bending, as an avatar now she knew she had to master the other elements in order to truly gain her title. Thank kami she had spent so much time around Aang and the others. Standing up she slid into and much different than normal stance. She had spent many years with Zuko after the war training with him in Fire Nations martial arts. She brought up the feelings fire made her feel and started moving through the stances that she had committed to memory. The fiery passion of love that Zuko described, the burning desire to protect those who cannot. The intense searing heat of righteous anger. Letting them flow through her she wove through the stances and was rewarded with a small bust of flame from her hands blasting the walls of the cave. She swept a kick releasing another burst, it was invigorating the power that flowed through her from the release of the flames.

It also had the pleasant side effect of heating the area around her so she wasn't so cold. She smiled evilly this was going to be fun indeed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

A few months had passed and Toph had deliberately acted boring only practicing when there was no one to observe her. During the times someone was there she meditated to talk with the past avatars. It was during one of these sessions that she met the Sage of Six paths. He taught her many things to help her out during her time in the elemental nations. Her favorite was the ability to create with Yin and Yang chakra. Because of her bending she was able to separate the two easily. Finally the time came that she was bored with her confinement. She decided to do something about it.

Toph double checked her surroundings as she waited for her gracious hosts to sit down for dinner. She smirked as Zetsu's presence disappeared through the earth pulling further and further away. She stood easily as she watched them settle down to eat.

"Time to move." She mumbled as she touched her hands to the metal bars around her. Pulling on her earth bending she reached deep into the steel for the base elements and applied her considerable will to them, asking them to move for her. She was rewarded when the metal buckled easily flowing around and up her arms like water settling into light gauntlets. She stepped down from the cage and walked easily to the room her hosts resided in. They were in the middle of conversation when she decided that she was going to crash their party.

"Hey Tobi pass the Soy sauce, yeah." Deidara said as he speared a piece of broccoli with his chopsticks. A finger tapped him on the shoulder and handed him the requested bottle.

"Thanks Tobi, un." Deidara grunted as he used it .

"But Senpai that wasn't me." Tobi complained as he stopped searching for the bottle.

"What do you mean it wasn't you, un?" Deidara asked awkwardly.

"Tobi meant what Tobi said Senpai."

"Well who was it then Yeah?" Deidara asked quizzically.

The others froze what they were doing falling silent, so Toph decided to speak up from her perch by the door.

"Oh that was me, so any idea where a girl can rustle up some grub around here?" She smiled easily as she 'saw' their stunned expressions.

"Y-YOU! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET OUT!?" Hidan yelled pointing and surging to his feet. She looked at him with a dead-pan expression.

"Well I walked duh. How'd you think I did it Twinkle-toes?" She said dismissively as her blind eyes gazed unseeingly at them.

Kisame snickered at their prisoners nickname for Hidan.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP FISH FACE!" Hidan yelled angrily.

"Hidan shut up!" Leader's voice stopping the Jashinist up short. Leader turned back to Toph who was now rummaging in the fridge before pulling out an apple.

"And you How exactly did you leave the means of your confinement?" he asked/ stated.

"Are you deaf or something I just answered that." She said taking a bite from the apple.

"How exactly did you walk through solid steel then?" The man elaborated a dangerous tone to his voice.

"Practice, lots of practice." She said sagely before tossing the core out in the garbage.

"So you mean to say that you could have escaped any time you wish." He said watching the Blind woman.

"Pretty much." She said shrugging as she stared blankly back at him.

"So why did you decide to escape now exactly." He asked inching closer to her. Toph frowned turning a seemingly scrutinizing gaze on Leader.

"You know that's quite close enough I have a bubble of personal space you know. As for your question I was bored, there was nothing to do and Flower power wasn't much of a conversationalist. Always arguing with himself it was kind of annoying actually." She said referring to Zetsu, Kisame smothered his laughter again.

"How do you know I'm approaching you?" Leader asked intrigued.

"The same way I know the rest of you are coming up on my bubble, I can feel it, I can here it. I can smell your bodies as they close in on me. I may be blind but I am far from helpless." She said sidestepping a chakra strand from Sasori and a thread from Kakuzu.

"Interesting and what do you plan on doing now?" he asked still staring at her as she dodged subtle attempts to catch her.

"Oh I was planning on hanging around but if you don't want me here, I can understand. So I'll go if you want me to." She said spinning out of the way of more chakra strings, threads and now paper.

Whatever the Akatsuki were thinking she would say this definitely wasn't it.

"You _want_ to stay here, un?" Deidara exclaimed in surprise voicing what they all were thinking.

"Um yeah isn't that what I just said, besides you all are practically the source of the reason I am back in these lands in the first place. I really don't want the world to be destroyed you know. That's kind of my job why the hell would I want to leave the people responsible to do as they wish." She retorted rolling her grey green eyes.

"And why the fuck do you think we will just let you walk around, bitch. Your out numbered we'll fucking kill you where you stand." Hidan said heatedly.

"Yeah go right on thinking that twinkle toes. In reality the only one who would actually give me a run for my money is spikey hair over there." She said pointing at Tobi who blinked at her in surprise.

"Who Tobi? Yeah right that brat couldn't fight his way from a paper bag, Yeah!" Deidara said.

"You just go right on thinking that Deidara-chan." Toph said as she felt Deidara tense.

Hidan doubled over laughing uproariously forgetting his anger at his own nick-name as the blind bitch called Deidara out.

"Do you have a death wish, un?" Deidara hissed making Toph yawn boredly.

"I meant what I said Deidara-_Chan_." She retorted with a grin before turning back to Leader.

"If this is the best you've got you all are boring. Well I'll catch ya'll later I'm off to explore and get my scrolls back Ciao." She said sliding off leaving a badly startled group of criminals and a still laughing Hidan behind her. Finally, Kisame still chuckling amusedly broke the silence a few minutes later.

"So Leader-san are we going to go after her?" he asked grinning snapping Pain from his trance.

"CATCH HER!" he ordered angrily as he tried to recover from being caught off guard.

Toph cocked her head as she recovered her scrolls.

"Well it's about time." She mumbled with an easy smile as she slipped out of the room and waltzed off through the base.

Akatsuki had gone passed frustrated and were now approaching apoplectic as they played the futile game of cat and mouse with their unwelcome guest/ prisoner. Whenever they got with in a few yards of her she would turn flash them a smile and disappear again. Needless to say the only person having any semblance of fun was Tobi who was generally ignored by everyone. It was sad really, Toph had actually struck up an interesting game of tag with the Older Uchiha who was taking it in stride as he acted his part of the annoying nuisance.

Tobi was very amused as he watched the others stumble over themselves trying to catch the self proclaimed protector of the Bijuu. He really needed to catch her alone to figure out what she meant by the Ten tails bringing about the end of the world, that wasn't what Madara had promised. He actually was rather interested in the girl with the strange powers. He had never seen anything like she was able to do. And the glowing seals on her warranted inspection as well. They had to mean something.

Toph for her part was having fun riling the group up but not enough to outright attack her. She knew they were wary because of her strange abilities, but she also knew that eventually they would step it up a notch. She dodged another attempt from black Zetsu and some of Deidara's miniature clay bombs. She had to thank the sage for teaching her to sense chakra among other things. She bent the clay that strayed to close back to its owner surprising the blonde bomber to no end when he detonated it. The best one she had pulled was when she positioned it near his butt and he blew himself into the air.

She moved her hands in a scooping motion and bent the earth out of the way to make an exit in the wall before stepping outside into the fresh air. She frowned when she stepped outside water hitting her face immediately meaning it was raining. She sent a pulse of spiritual energy through the ground feeling out the terrain. She felt a town over the dale but decided to stick around the base as to not bring innocents into the mess. She also saw flower power as she dubbed Zetsu trying to sneak up on her again and moved out of the way dodging yet another attempt and making her way towards Tobi to tag him once again.

Using her chakra she ran up a nearby tree wincing lightly at the feeling of the rough bark on her feet. Zetsu glared angrily after her before going to try and merge with the tree she was in. He was both surprised and pissed respectively when he materialized where she had been only to find that she had stepped off the limb and was now walking on air as if it were solid ground. The strong wind current however stated otherwise as the sharp biting wind ripped little slices in his cloak. Toph for her own amusement decided to spend the time perfecting the only technique she had perfected in air bending. She called it stepping for lack of a better term. The technique utilized both Chakra and Bending in order to solidify the air beneath her feet.

It actually allowed her to expand her spatial recognition abilities as well she could finally see in the air. She grinned widely oh if only Aang could see her now. A cry came from her right as a winged image flew into her field. It was her buddy Kiryuu.

"Hey Kiryuu." She said holding her arm out. The majestic bird settled onto the proffered limb and cooed at her running his beak through her hair. She felt something dangling from one of his talons and reached for it. She extended her senses and chakra to analyze the object and bit back a gasp of recognition. It was a sword, one she had thought lost a long time ago. It was the sword Sokka had made before the Fire Nation battle.

"_A gift from the spirits, young Toph. You will need it in the times ahead, I have taken the liberty of placing a seal on it so that if you will it the sword shall return to you from anywhere. You need only shed a little blood on the hilt."_ The sages voice rang in her mind as she came in contact with the blade.

"Thanks old man." She said doing what she was told to do. There was a bright flash of light as she dropped her blood on the magatama crest that now adorned the hilt. She took one glance down at exhausted Akatsuki who were gathered beneath her glaring and waved cheekily.

"Yo guys as nice as it was playing with ya'll I have somethings I need to attend to. Maybe we can whip up a game some other time aye?" So in order, Bye Freakshow, puppet boy, Twinkle toes, Deidara-_chan,_ Flower power, yarn-ball, Zombie-sama, pixie-chan, Sushi-san and Tobi." She said calling them by the nicknames she had come up with over the months of her subsequent imprisonment with the exception of Tobi whom she genuinely liked. She smiled brightly at the outraged yells of the members as they realized who was whom and excited farewell and frantic waving of a certain chibi Uchiha.

"BYE TOPH-CHAN!"

His voice following her enthusiastically as she stepped easily away towards someplace new.


End file.
